Isterband

Ingredients

Sausage

• 8isterband sausages
• 1 tbspbutter

Dill potatoes

• 1 kgpotatoes, peeled and cubed
• 40 gbutter
• 3 tbspflour
• 400 mlmilk
• 1large bunch dill, chopped
• salt and white pepper

To serve

• pickled beetroot
• mustard

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes in salted water until just tender, then drain and keep them warm.
2. Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook two minutes without colouring, then whisk in the milk a little at a time to a smooth sauce. Simmer five minutes.
3. Fold the drained potatoes through the sauce with the dill, salt and white pepper. Add the dill at the very end and off the heat — cooked dill loses everything it has.
4. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat and add the isterband whole.
5. Fry them slowly for 20 to 25 minutes, turning often, until dark brown all over and slightly split. Low and slow is the point: isterband is fatty and coarse, and a hot pan blackens the skin while the middle is still cool.
6. Do not prick them. The fat that runs out is the fat that keeps them moist.
7. Serve the sausages whole on the dill potatoes, with pickled beetroot and mustard.
8. The sour edge of the sausage against the creamy dill potatoes is the whole idea of the dish, and it is why the two are never served apart in Småland.

Technique

• Twenty-five minutes over medium-low heat. Rushing it splits and dries them.
• Never prick a sausage in the pan.
• Dill off the heat.

Substitutions

• Any coarse fresh pork sausage, though the barley and the slight sourness are what make isterband itself.
• Plain boiled potatoes with butter and dill, if you want to skip the sauce.
• Baked at 200°C (400°F) for 25 minutes instead of fried.

Variations

• Eaten cold, sliced, on crispbread.
• The Swedish potatiskorv and Finnish perunamakkara are related grain-and-potato sausages.

History

A smoked sausage made from a mixture of pork, beef and barley or potato starch as a filler, most strongly associated with southern and western Sweden, developed as a way to extend available meat using barley or other grains, a technique documented across many European sausage-making traditions facing similar historic meat scarcity. Its name comes from ister, an older Swedish word for lard or animal fat, referring to the sausage’s traditionally high fat content, which was itself historically valued as an important source of calories in a demanding agricultural or laboring diet rather than seen as undesirable. Isterband is traditionally fried or grilled rather than boiled, and served with a creamy potato dish called stuvad potatis, or a similar mustard-and-dill sauce.

Frequently asked questions

What is Isterband?

Isterband is a charcuterie & cured from Sweden: coarse smoked pork and barley sausage, slightly sour, fried with potatoes. A smoked sausage made from a mixture of pork, beef and barley or potato starch as a filler, most strongly associated with southern and western Sweden, developed as a way to extend available meat using barley or other grains, a technique documented across many European sausage-making traditions facing similar historic meat scarcity. Its name comes from ister, an older Swedish word for lard or animal fat, referring to the sausage’s traditionally high fat content, which was itself historically valued as an important source of calories in a demanding agricultural or laboring diet rather than seen as undesirable. Isterband is traditionally fried or grilled rather than boiled, and served with a creamy potato dish called stuvad potatis, or a similar mustard-and-dill sauce.

How long does Isterband take to make?

Isterband takes 15 min of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Isterband?

Yes, within limits. Any coarse fresh pork sausage, though the barley and the slight sourness are what make isterband itself. Plain boiled potatoes with butter and dill, if you want to skip the sauce. Baked at 200°C (400°F) for 25 minutes instead of fried.

What is the most important thing to get right in Isterband?

Fry them slowly for 20 to 25 minutes, turning often, until dark brown all over and slightly split. Low and slow is the point: isterband is fatty and coarse, and a hot pan blackens the skin while the middle is still cool.